Heirs of Anzac Day 'architect' in Brisbane to share rare gift

It weighs about the same. But when you look closely, you can see two distinct gold cruciforms.

Canon David Garland's gold cross, given to him when he was in Jerusalem in 1920, containing splinters from the cross on which Jesus was crucified, according to Christians. Canon Garland began the Anzac Day service tradition in Brisbane.Credit:Tony Moore

There is the smaller, uncluttered gold cross less than three centimetres in length with dark timber markings in the centre.

Christians believe these markings are slivers from the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, believed to have later been rediscovered by St Helena in Jerusalem in roughly AD326.

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This is the orginal gold cross that was given to the city's "architect of Anzac Day", canon David Garland, in 1920 when he was the British Forces senior war chaplain based in Jerusalem at the end of World War I.

The smaller cross is set on a larger one made of gold from Townsville, courtesy of a thankful Brisbane Orthodox Greek community who, in 1924, raised money and asked a Brisbane jeweller to adorn it with rubies from Ruby Vale.

Canon David Garland's great-nephew, David Ratcliff, and his daughter, Liz Binks, from Britain are overwhelmed by Brisbane's support of Anzac Day, which their ancestor helped begin.Credit:Tony Moore

Englishman David Ratcliff and daughter Liz Binks are the direct descendents of Mr Garland and visited Brisbane for a week, with the cross, for talks about bringing it home permanently.

"He was padre in the Australian Army who went to the Middle East in 1917 and he became a volunteer army chaplain and given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in order to do this work," Mr Ratcliff said.

"He moved in Jerusalem with the Allied troops as they worked their way up through the Holy Land and up to Jerusalem.

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"If you look at the side of the Greek church, they had a shrine at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which Greeks were tolerated to keep.

"For a Christian country's army to come into Jerusalem – and take the city – this allowed the Christian worship to be more free and open.

"Because of this, Greeks saw canon Garland as the leading padre of the Australian Army that moved in, and they saw him as the person who should be celebrated.

"They gave him the Order of the Knighthood of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is possibly the most sacred part of Jerusalem.

Mr Ratcliff understands some people may be sceptical of the connection to the cross, but says it has been verified by scholars.

"There is documentary evidence. I cannot produce it unfortunately, but I know that there is which shows that the cross which St Helena found in the fourth century – the mother of Emperor Constantine – she went on a mission to find this Cross," he said.

Mr Ratcliff said scholars have proven St Helena found a wooden cross in Jerusalem.

"She believes, and many people believe, it was the wood of the true cross," he said.

Mr Ratcliff said more modern documentary evidence showed the wood in Mr Garland's cross was the same as the wood St Helena found.

"What we can't do is produce documentary evidence that what she found is what she said she found," he said

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre's website has these historical notes.

"In 326, Constantine’s mother, Saint Helena, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where, according to legend, she discovered the relic of the cross of Jesus (the “True Cross”)," it states.

"The story of the discovery of the cross was current early in the fifth century, and in the 11th century a cave deep below the ruins of the basilica came to be known as the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross."

Mr Ratcliff said documentary evidence lasted with the cross until after the end of World War I, but went missing when Mr Garland's cross was bequeathed to his nephew, English priest Richard Ratcliff – David's father – in 1940.

"My father kept it and it was passed down to me when my mother and father both died," David Ratcliff said.

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The retired teacher, and his daughter, Ms Binks, a social worker, on Friday visited Mr Garland's old patch, the timber-made St Barnabas Anglican Church Red Hill.

"I must say, it is an emotionally rich place for both of us," he said. "We have both felt very deeply towards it today.

"Canon Garland was someone who I believed was always someone who wanted to share the gifts that he was given with the people that he worked with.

"And this building where we are sitting today is an extension that had to be built in the 1920s because he had filled the rest up completely."

Talks continue with Brisbane City Council, the Museum of Brisbane and Brisbane's Canon Garland Memorial over the long-term vision of returning Mr Garland's cross to Brisbane.